Toraton
|name = Toraton |kingdom = Animalia |phylum = Chordata |class = Sauropsida |order = Testudines |scale image = }} The toraton is a species of giant tortoise native to the Bengal Swamp and its surrounding grasslands in 100 million AD. Seven metres tall and weighing up to 120 tonnes, it is one of the largest terrestrial animals in history, and certainly the largest since the age of the dinosaurs. Evolution The toraton have descended from tortoises, due to the large amounts of lush vegetation in the Bengal Swamp, having a larger stomach allows the toraton to digest larger amounts of food and a larger stomach means larger size. The toratons legs are now directly underneath the animal rather than to it's sides, as this allows it to reach greater sizes. The toraton is less heavily armoured than the tortoise as adult toratons have no natural predators, the toraton has a rather baggy, loose skin at the neck. Biology The Toraton greatly resembles it's human era counterpart, its legs are now directly underneath the animal rather than to its sides as this allows it to reach greater sizes, being so huge has its own perks as this means the toraton has a huge stomach, allowing it to digest great amounts of food, which it feeds on using its beak. The toraton is less heavily armoured than the tortoise as adult toratons have no natural predators, the toraton has loose, baggy skin at the neck area. Behaviour The toratons are huge, eating machines, they spend large amounts of time browsing for food and consuming huge amounts of vegetation. The toraton travel in large herds, bellowing and carelessly knocking over several objects including swampus nurseries. Though they are massive, the toraton are gentle giants, however when a baby toraton is killed they can easily be angered. Ecology While no animal is capable of bringing down a full grown toraton, baby toratons may find themselves inflicted with a venomous bite from a Swampus and later dying. When travelling in herds, adult toratons may accidentally kick down whatever small animals or plants are in their way, including Swampus nurseries. Extinction During the 100 million AD mass extinction, the skies are blotted out by clouds of ash, lowering temperatures, and much of the vegetation of the Bengal Swamp was incinerated by white-hot ash. The cold-blooded toratons could not survive in these conditions: they "stood motionless, their vitality seeping away in the cold." Appearances In the documentary In "Waterland," a juvenile toraton accidentally disturbs a family of swampuses guarding a nursery plant, and is attacked and killed. The youngster's herd later wanders into the same region: the swampuses are no match for a herd of adult toratons, and their nursery plant is effortlessly kicked over. And they evolved from today’s tortoise In the manga "Bengal Swamp" follows an adult toraton which leaves its herd after it being blinded by another toraton which had been attacked by a swampus. This toraton eventually befriends a family of swampuses which it inadvertantly saves from a lurkfish, and dies whilst trying to prevent a massive flood by blocking the river with its body. In this it fails, and the width of the river ends up doubled, but the swampuses nursery plant has been saved, and hundreds of swampuses gather to see the toraton's body. In the next chapter, "Great Shallow Sea," the toraton's body is swept out to sea (it is never explicitly identified as the toraton from the previous chapter, but in one panel it can be seen to be missing one eye.) Its body is fed on by an ocean phantom, then left to be devoured by striped sharks. In the animated series Major appearances and Emily encounter a toraton.]] :See also: Tory, Tika, and Tonk In "Toratonnage," a pair of elderly toratons named Stoney and Max tries to reach a "toraton graveyard". Tired out by his journey, when he comes across the Time Flyer Stoney mistakes it for a large rock, and falls asleep on it, preventing Luis from being able to pilot it. Meanwhile, C.G., Ethan, and Emily wander onto a toraton game trail, which they follow to the toraton graveyard. Luis informs C.G.'s father about the situation, and with his help he is eventually able to get Stoney to move by cooling down the hull of the Time Flyer. Stoney decides not to go to the graveyard, and Max agrees with him after seeing the Time Flyer flying away. In "Think Big," a toraton mother named Tory is knocked onto her side after an encounter with Squibby, and Luis and Emily try in vain to get her back on her feet. Luis discovers a pair of her eggs, which hatch in his presence, and the babies, Tika and Tonk, immediately imprint on him and begin to follow him around, believing him to be their mother. While Luis travels around the swamp trying to find something the babies will like to eat, C.G. and Ethan try to winch up the mother toraton using the Time Flyer and a log. In the end, the Time Flyer gets Tory back onto her feet, and the babies recognise her as their mother. Tory, Tika, and Tonk reappear in "Around the World In 80 Minutes," when Luis travels to the Bengal Swamp to retrieve one of the toxic geocaches. At first they do not recognise him and advance on him menacingly, but eventually they remember him and rescue him from a swampus, crushing the geocache in the process. The Time Flyer returns to an earlier point in time, negating some of the previous events, and Luis grabs the geocache before it is crushed. Minor appearances In "Be True To Your Crew," Ethan and Luis ride around a toraton with the dune skimmer, whilst Emily uses the chameliographic helmet to imitate it. In "Queen of the Squibbons, Part 2," the Time Flyer accidentally ends up in the Bengal Swamp whilst trying to return to the Northern Forest, and flies over a pair of adult toraton browsing in shallow water. List of appearances *''The Future Is Wild'' **1x01. Welcome to the Future **1x06. Waterland *''The Future Is Wild: A Natural History of the Future'' *''The Future Is Wild'' (fulldome show) *''The Future Is Wild'' manga **03. Bengal Swamp **04. Great Shallow Sea *''The Future Is Wild'' animated series **1x04. Toratonnage **1x05. Think Big **1x10. Be True to Your Crew (cameo) **1x17. Around the World In 80 Minutes **1x25. Queen of the Squibbons, Part 2 (cameo) *''The Future Is Wild: The Living Book'' Notes *In The Future Is Wild, the toraton is described as the largest terrestrial animal in history, bigger than the biggest dinosaurs. However, since then, several dinosaurs exceeding the toraton's given size, including Argentinosaurus, have been discovered. In other languages Navigation Category:Animals Category:Reptiles Category:Organisms of 100 million AD Category:Organisms of the Bengal Swamp Category:100 million AD